Louise

Louise Throdmore Briggs is a high school teacher plagued by invasive dreams. When her daughter shares her fears that the increasing fits are hereditary, Louise realizes her estranged father, Henry, may hold the key to what is happening to her. His death in a nursing home shortly after acts as a catalyst to unravelling the mysteries of her past: her parents’ struggle for social justice and her father’s disappearance during her childhood.

The sudden arrival of Sohi, an Ojibway woman, reveals surprising details about Henry’s secret life. But no matter how far Louise gets in her discovery, it cannot protect her family from the pervasive discrimination and violence that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. A trip to her home city of Philadelphia proves as tragic as it is revelatory, and Louise is plunged into grief. With emotions threatening to overtake her, Louise joins the grandmothers in the sweat lodge on Sunday mornings, embarking on a quest for family connection and deeper understanding.